UPDATE:NOLA Progressive DA Jason Williams and his Mother Carjacked while held at Gunpoint

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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams and his 78-year-old mother were carjacked at gunpoint Monday night (Oct. 16) in New Orleans, his spokesman said. “OPDA confirms that DA Williams and his 78-year-old mother were carjacked at gunpoint as he was helping her into a car,” office spokesman Keith Lampkin said in response to questions from Fox 8. “DA Williams and his mother were unharmed and both thank the NOPD for their hard work tonight and every night responding to crime victims.” No other details of the crime were immediately available. The New Orleans Police Department did not respond to questions about the incident late Monday night or early Tuesday.

Williams and his wife Elizabeth appeared unharmed while discussing the night’s events with NOPD officers outside their home Tuesday around 12:40 a.m.

When asked about the carjacking by a Fox 8 reporter, Williams said only, “It’s been a long night. I’ll get with you in the morning.”

This is a developing story.

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First suspect arrested in DA Jason Williams’ carjacking case

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A suspect has been arrested in connection to the Monday night carjacking of Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams.

Court records show 18-year-old Raymond Rochon III was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail around 1 a.m. Wednesday.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, detectives used data from license plate readers to track a stolen blue pickup truck used by the suspects in Williams’ carjacking and in the carjacking of another woman 25 minutes later. The truck was tracked to a neighborhood in New Orleans East.

The stolen truck was placed under surveillance for nine hours until detectives saw three Black males drive off in the vehicle, the warrant says. Rochon drove the truck to the 7600 block of Brevard Avenue in the Little Woods area, where police say they arrested him and recovered a loaded gun he had tucked in his front waistband.

While a detective was reading Rochon his Miranda rights, the warrant says, the suspect interrupted and said, “I known why y’all are here,” and said it was because “y’alls people” had been “got.”

Detectives booked Rochon with two counts of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, two counts of illegal possession of a stolen auto, illegal carry of weapons, motor vehicle theft and illegal possession of a stolen auto valued at $15,000 or less. The document also says Rochon was arrested on “several outstanding warrants.”

Rochon’s bond was set Wednesday afternoon at $120,000. His defense attorney Michael Kennedy, who recently represented Costco carjacker Tyrese Harris through his guilty plea in federal court, said he expects Rochon to be booked with additional counts within days.

The NOPD did not immediately explain why Rochon was not booked with carjacking or armed robbery. Police also have not explained whether the other two males riding with Rochon in the stolen truck have been detained or arrested, or whether they have been identified as juveniles or accomplices.

Outside of the court filing, New Orleans police have provided no investigative updates on the high-profile case that has garnered national attention. Interim Supt. Anne Kirkpatrick disregarded the case in her remarks Tuesday night at a Night Out Against Crime event and did not answer questions there from a Fox 8 reporter. No additional information was provided at a Wednesday news conference at NOPD headquarters.

Williams told Fox 8 on Tuesday that he and his 78-year-old mother were forced out of their Lincoln Navigator at gunpoint Monday around 10 p.m. near the DA’s home in the Lower Garden District. Williams said he faced two armed men, along with a third accomplice who drove them to the intersection where the crime occurred. The armed men made off with his SUV and personal possessions, Williams said.

Court records also show a detainer hold placed on Rochon related to a previous auto theft for which he was adjudicated guilty as a juvenile. Rochon turned 18 on Jan. 29 and this appears to be his first Orleans Parish arrest as an adult.

Rochon is scheduled to make his first appearance Wednesday afternoon in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court, when his bond is expected to be set by a magistrate commissioner.

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